Monday, April 28, 2014

Spring has arrived, and with that, another PAX East has sprung up,
inviting gamers and game developers from all over the world to Boston,
all to show upcoming games and revel in what the industry has in store.
We at Third Rate Minion were there, and we got to try out a sampling of
what was there on the showfloor!

---

Interview with Kyle:Gameplay:

Alex:

In the middle of the Indie Megabooth, developer Refract Studios was present to show off the latest build of their high-speed futuristic driving game Distance, and we got to speak with Kyle Holdwick and get some hands-on time with the game. Check out what we thought after the jump!

Spring has arrived, and with that, another PAX East has sprung up,
inviting gamers and game developers from all over the world to Boston,
all to show upcoming games and revel in what the industry has in store.
We at Third Rate Minion were there, and we got to try out a sampling of
what was there on the showfloor!

---

Interview with Ryan:

Gameplay Montage:

Alex:

Perhaps one of the most popular games shown at the PAX East Indie Megabooth was Brace Yourself Games' debut title, Crypt of the NecroDancer. Roguelikes are definitely a popular genre in indie games, and music games have an intriguing allure to them, for sure. Crypt of NecroDancer takes those two genres together in one very solid package. We got to talk with Ryan Clark of Brace Yourself and try some of the game ourselves, and you can check out the impressions after the jump.

Saturday, April 26, 2014

Spring has arrived, and with that, another PAX East has sprung up,
inviting gamers and game developers from all over the world to Boston,
all to show upcoming games and revel in what the industry has in store.
We at Third Rate Minion were there, and we got to try out a sampling of
what was there on the showfloor!

---

Interview with Johann:

Demo Gameplay:

Alex:

Within the Indie Megabooth, Icelandic indie developer Lumenox Games was in the mix showing off its debut adventure title, Aaru's Awakening. I got to speak with Johann from the team about the game and how it all came together, and I also got to play through some of the game which was fully unlocked for PAX East.

Thursday, April 24, 2014

Spring has arrived, and with that, another PAX East has sprung up,
inviting gamers and game developers from all over the world to Boston,
all to show upcoming games and revel in what the industry has in store.
We at Third Rate Minion were there, and we got to try out a sampling of
what was there on the showfloor!

---

Interview with Brian and Andrew:

Full PAX East Demo Playthrough:

Ackk Studios was at PAX East once again, and this time, the team's secret Project Y2K has now emerged in its first playable form for the public, now titled just Y2K. We got to catch up with the Allanson brothers about the game and learn about the world and then some. We also took the time to play through the entire PAX East demo for your viewing pleasure. Check after the jump for our impressions.

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Spring has arrived, and with that, another PAX East has sprung up,
inviting gamers and game developers from all over the world to Boston,
all to show upcoming games and revel in what the industry has in store.
We at Third Rate Minion were there, and we got to try out a sampling of
what was there on the showfloor!

---

In the midst of our adventure around PAX East's Indie Megabooth, we were able to stop at the Dennaton Games booth to watch some people play through a couple missions of Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number. The game looks like there is a bit more story in the midst, but the level of violence is as strong as ever. Check after the jump to see the video itself and have a watch.

Spring has arrived, and with that, another PAX East has sprung up,
inviting gamers and game developers from all over the world to Boston,
all to show upcoming games and revel in what the industry has in store.
We at Third Rate Minion were there, and we got to try out a sampling of
what was there on the showfloor!

---

If you were around the multiple clusters of Indie games at PAX East, you would have likely seen Flippfly's Race the Sun playing nearby. It was present for a day in the Indie Minibooth as well as its own full booth on the showfloor, and it was also part of the Kickstarter Lounge just upstairs from the showfloor itself. It was a busy time for Co-Founder Aaron Filippo, but we able to catch some time with him to talk about Race the Sun, its upcoming PSN release, and Flippfly's next project, Hexarden.

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Spring has arrived, and with that, another PAX East has sprung up,
inviting gamers and game developers from all over the world to Boston,
all to show upcoming games and revel in what the industry has in store.
We at Third Rate Minion were there, and we got to try out a sampling of
what was there on the showfloor!

---

Interview with Sean Velasco:

3DS Plains Gameplay (w/ Direct Feed Audio!)

PC Lich Yard Gameplay (w/ Audio)

Alex:

A year has passed since we last saw Yacht Club Games debut their game Shovel Knight to the public amid the launch of their Kickstarter campaign, and now that it is nearly time for its release, we got to chat with Captain Sean Velasco about the game and to try out both demos available at the PAX East 2014 showfloor. As I'm sure many people have said in the past, we totally dig it.

Monday, April 21, 2014

Spring has arrived, and with that, another PAX East has sprung up,
inviting gamers and game developers from all over the world to Boston,
all to show upcoming games and revel in what the industry has in store.
We at Third Rate Minion were there, and we got to try out a sampling of
what was there on the showfloor!

---

Interview with Henk Boom:

Showfloor Gameplay:

Alex:

In the Indie Megabooth, developer Phosfiend Systems was
present to demonstrate their upcoming release, FRACT OSC, a music-based
first-person adventure.At the
showfloor, we got to interview programmer Henk on the game as well a take a
trip into the game itself.From what I
have played, this game is going to be an atmospheric overload, and I mean that
in a good way.

Friday, April 18, 2014

Spring has arrived, and with that, another PAX East has sprung up,
inviting gamers and game developers from all over the world to Boston,
all to show upcoming games and revel in what the industry has in store.
We at Third Rate Minion were there, and we got to try out a sampling of
what was there on the showfloor!

---

Tony:

Renegade Kid had a number of Nintendo 3DS titles playable at
their PAX East 2014 booth. One game I got a chance to try out was Moon
Chronicles, which is a remake of their 2009 Nintendo DS title Moon. Now in an episodic downloadable adventure, Moon Chronicles is expected to expand on the universe Moon established, and from what I played of the demo, it should be a solid debut to the FPS genre on the 3DS.

Spring has arrived, and with that, another PAX East has sprung up,
inviting gamers and game developers from all over the world to Boston,
all to show upcoming games and revel in what the industry has in store.
We at Third Rate Minion were there, and we got to try out a sampling of
what was there on the showfloor!

---

Alex:

Renegade Kid was at PAX East showing off its games on Nintendo 3DS
both new and old, and there we got to try out a build of its latest 2D
offering, Treasurenauts.We have
gameplay footage from the floor, and we have impressions after the jump.

Spring has arrived, and with that, another PAX East has sprung up,
inviting gamers and game developers from all over the world to Boston,
all to show upcoming games and revel in what the industry has in store.
We at Third Rate Minion were there, and we got to try out a sampling of
what was there on the showfloor!

---

Part 1:

Part 2:

While they were not a part of the Indie Megabooth this year, the guys at Renegade Kid took part in PAX East the biggest way they could – showing off games old, new, and upcoming. We got to talk with Jools Watsham (it can’t be a PAX East without an interview with him) about the latest releases, including the future of Mutant Mudds, upcoming releases Moon Chronicles and Teasurenauts, and especially the Kickstarter campaign for last year’s Cult County. You can see the interview above, and other articles will show gameplay videos we took and impressions of their latest games.

The interview is so large, we have divided it in half. In the first half, we take a moment to chat about Mutant Mudds and its future, Moon Chronicles and its overarching story, and Treasurenauts and its development process. In the second half, we take a moment to discuss the projects Renegade Kid has in the future: Razor Global Domination Pro Tour and the horror series Cult County.

Last year, Cult County was shown on a Nintendo 3DS as an environmental demo, but this year, it is part of a much larger project. Cult County is undergoing a Kickstarter campaign to be released on all systems and PC under the Unity engine. Jools explained to me that the concept of Cult County had grown with the Unity engine, and since the 3DS does not have a Unity engine in place, the game would have to be retooled specifically for it in the current circumstance. However, given the response from fans, a 3DS version is still prepped to be made if the campaign reaches its minimal goal.

Welcome to Scared. Population: You

One thing Jools wants to stress with this game versus newer horror
games is true fear. In Dimentium, his previous horror game series, fear
played a large part in setting up tension before and during monstrous
encounters, and he hopes to establish that even more in Cult County. He wants to use the environment especially to build that fear and make an old-school survival horror adventure quite unlike any other.

Either way, the game is still going into production, but Jools hopes that backers will be able to help fund the project and make the game as big as it can be. As for backer support in development, backers will specifically be able to choose designs of the enemies faced as well as what weapons would be used in the final game. Furthermore, if the game goes through a stretch goal not far from the main goal, the team at Dvelop.tv will be documenting the game’s creation for the world to see.

Cult County still has a little while longer to go in its Kickstarter, and so we heartily recommend heading over to the campaign and helping lend a hand to Renegade Kid’s first major horror adventure game in years.

Thursday, April 17, 2014

Spring has arrived, and with that, another PAX East has sprung up,
inviting gamers and game developers from all over the world to Boston,
all to show upcoming games and revel in what the industry has in store.
We at Third Rate Minion were there, and we got to try out a sampling of
what was there on the showfloor!

---

Alex:
This past year has been an interesting one for Mega Man fans, especially with Keiji Inafune bringing the Mega Man franchise back in spirit with Mighty No. 9 through Kickstarter. However, Mega Man is also becoming the inspiration of other new IPs being headed to Kickstarter. New developer Batterystaple Games was present at this year’s PAX East to show off their recently-Kickstarted game, Echoes of Eridu. We got to interview Zach Urtes, the Art Director of the team, and you can see the interview above. While we did not get gameplay footage from the showfloor, we did get to play its pre-alpha build while in Boston.

Echoes of Eridu takes place in the far-flung future after a man-made AI (Enterprise NeuroKinetic Intelligence, or ENKI for short) gains sentience and accidentally creates a robot apolcalypse. Feeling sorry for having caused such a great calamity, ENKI helps turn the remaining humans into robot-human hybrids and provides them asylum in Eridu, a facility floating far above Earth. However, getting there is not exactly easy, as the survivors need to go through the facilities of EZN, the corporation originally responsible for ENKI’s creation, and a being named ENLIL is controlling massive robots and blocking easy entry into Eridu. ENLIL’s true motive is unclear, but regardless, the survivors must make their way through EZN’s facilities and face ENLIL’s followers in order to make it to Eridu and safety.

Echoes of Eridu is an action-platformer akin to Mega Man X but with the randomness and replayability of a roguelike. Every time the game is played, the stages are randomized in parts so stages are never the same twice (or at least statistically so). Over the course of each adventure, players obtain basic power-ups, but they can also find blueprints for use in the ARSENAL (Automatic RoboSapient Equipment and Navigation Assistance Library). When these blueprints are retrieved, they can be equipped in each new game afterward. So, while you might not survive the first run through the game (especially with just one life to a run), you still keep the blueprints earned in the adventure, allowing for a more powerful start to the adventure through EZN’s facilities. Of course, in true Mega Man style, defeating big bosses earn players special weapons for the remainder of the adventure, but what exactly those weapons do will differ with each run.

You will not need to worry about playing through the game alone, as the game will have both offline and online multiplayer options. While initially the game has two characters, a stretch goal will unlock two more characters, each one with their own special abilities. Both characters currently feel very similar to Mega Man X movesets, and that is not a bad thing when it comes to this game. Nina focuses on a Buster arm she was given and feels very similar to X in attack power, while Ace is based more on Zero, focused on slashing and close-range combat. Having played as Ace at the demo, I can confirm that he certainly feels like Zero, and cutting up robots is as fun as ever.

Even if he dies, at least he got a cool blueprint for his trouble!

The demo was Pre-Alpha, but even so, the game’s movement is pretty smooth throughout the experience. Tony and I played together cooperatively, which meant the camera would occasionally follow one player more than the other, but that could have been more an issue with us rushing through the game in true Mega Man X style. Because the world is built together using random segments, there were times where there was no ceiling and opened outward into space, allowing us to skip certain obstacles, but when things worked well, playing through the stages wassmooth and intense. Enemies continued to attack both of us intently, and at one point in time, I was left to fend off the boss myself, jumping over barrages of attacks and using my own special attacks to take it down. Thankfully, the game allows players to be brought back into the game by cutting another player’s life by half, thus ensuring that everyone could still play, at least until there was no more life to divide. I was finally destroyed in the second stage, but not until after I used special attacks and wall sliding to vanquish some very intrusive spiked enemies.

Mobility-wise, this game is certainly on the cusp of matching movement from the Mega Man X franchise. Characters can dash swiftly across the ground, and based on what ARSENAL items are chosen, players can dash in the air much like previous X games or, in my case, use a double jump for further mobility in the stages. It was not all based on MMX, though; some of the first world contained antigravity ceilings, allowing for mobility along these platforms from a different perspective. Wall climbing and jumping felt quick and snappy, and that made movement all the quicker through the world. I also think this quick movement led to our downfall in the stages, but that is all on us to work at in our next playthroughs. I did notice, though, that feedback from being hit by enemies did not seem hard enough, and that made it more difficult to gauge how I was engaging with the enemy. I do think a small tutorial area, either outside the main quest or just at the start, would be helpful to show what each player can do before going head-first into the danger; it took me some time to finally understand what each energy bar represented and what each ability could do in the context of the game. Either way, it was a fast-paced and intense romp all the way to the explosive end (even if I was the thing that exploded).

Echoes of Eridu is still in the midst of its Kickstarter campaign, and it is currently slated for PC with ports of Mac/Linux versions post-release. Consoles may be a future consideration, but right now PC is the main priority. It is slated for release hopefully sometime later this year, if all works out. Go check out the Kickstarter campaign here and help support Batterystaple games!

Tony:
It has been a number of years since the last official
Mega Man game was released, and fans of the series have decided to take it on
themselves to make games to follow in the blue bomber’s footsteps. One such
game is currently having a Kickstarter campaign, Echoes of Eridu, and it had a playable
pre-alpha demo at PAX East 2014.

Developed by Batterystaple Games, Echoes of Eridu takes the gameplay of Mega Man X and introduces it to the challenge and procedurally
generated levels of roguelike titles. While the gameplay is akin to Mega Man,
the environments are made up of randomly-arranged sections filled with platforming goodness so that each playthrough has a different level layout,
which is a staple to the roguelike genre. The only criticism I have with this
was sometimes the randomly generated stages would create open ceilings or
pathways that would go no where and place me outside the play area. Luckily,
the developers state that they are aware of this and working to fix it. Also similar
to roguelike games, players only have one life and will lose any power ups
collected along the way once they die. Only special blueprints hidden in the
stages will allow for the player to start the stage with special abilities such
as double jump, charge shot, or speed sliders. At the time of our play session,
a number of power-ups were already unlocked, making our playtime easier than it
will be in the final build.

The demo had two playable characters, each with their play
style. Nina played like Mega Man X with her buster-like weapon, and Ace played
like Zero with his slash attacks.I
played as Nina during my playtime with Echoes of Eridu, which I felt controlled
nearly identically to Megaman X. At the same time, Alex played as Ace. While
the game can be played alone, the game was designed to be played in multiplayer
whether local with a few friends or online with scores of people filling the
server. Luckily, players won’t be able to knock each other around, but they will activate level gimmicks, which leads to
some forced cooperation with some falling platforms.As for the gameplay itself, it was snappy and
responsive, making navigating the futuristic areas and avoiding enemies more
enjoyable. Jumping, sliding, and wall-jumping was fast and felt like it came
directly from a Mega Man X title. However, I felt that getting hit or hitting an
enemy did not provide enough in-game response. With so much going on, I
sometimes didn’t notice I was getting hit. Besides that, the gameplay was enjoyable
and captured the twich play style of Megaman.

Visually, the game is vector-based and not sprited, which
may be disappointing to old-school Mega Man X fans. However, the trad- off is
the game's solid framerate, seemingly steady at 60 frames pre second. Everything ran smoothly in the
demo, and the enemies and attacks were well-animated. As for the audio, the
music and sound effects sound like they could have been in a Mega Man X title.
Overall, the game’s aesthetic is right at home to be a Mega Man title and should
please fans.

Although my time was short with Echoes of Eridu, the solid,
twtich gameplay felt just like Mega Man X, and I am interested to see how the
randomly generated levels could offer in terms of replayableity. Support their
Kickstarter so we can have another great title to fill the Mega Man X shaped
hole in our gaming library.

Wednesday, April 16, 2014

Spring has arrived, and with that, another PAX East has sprung up, inviting gamers and game developers from all over the world to Boston, all to show upcoming games and revel in what the industry has in store. We at Third Rate Minion were there, and we got to try out a sampling of what was there on the showfloor!

---

In the Indie Megabooth, a number of developers showed off
games which benefitted from the influx of crowdfunding, whether by
Kickstarter, Indiegogo or otherwise. At the same time, other teams were showing off new projects in need of help from crowdfunding. Developer Fenix Fire Entertainment was present in the Megabooth to show off their upcoming titles, as well as their new Kickstarter project, Source.

Source takes place in an alternate dimension inhabited by
otherworldly, luminescent flora and fauna.Players control a butterfly-like creature which is born to the world as
its last savior.A dark energy is
spreading throughout the dimension, destroying everything in its path and
threatening to end all life in the world, and as the last surviving being if
its kind, the flying protagonist must go forth and stop the source of dark
energy before it is too late.

Source is a 3D action adventure game set together in a
metroidvania style.Players move the
firefly around the dying yet beautiful world, and as they progress, they will
be able to find a multitude of new abilities to help solve puzzles, open doors,
and defeat what foes the source creates.Initially, the firefly is fairly limited in what it can do, revolving
around the ability to absorb and release energy from its body.This ability is important, though, as the
firefly continually loses energy as any other being would; the player needs to
ensure the firefly is kept nourished in order to progress readily through the
world.The firefly can use its released energy to pollinate foliage and cocoons along the landscape, and in doing
so, more energy is expelled and absorbed, making the firefly stronger in the
process.As the game progresses, the
firefly can get ability upgrades, including the Plasma Beam to fend off foes and
different color polarities to open doors and interact with different objects in the
world.

Pollination has gotten rather trippy...

In true metroidvania style, Source is complete with typical
backtracking and upgrades throughout the world, but the game also has a unique
rebirth element in place.In Source,
every action is recorded and used to eventually improve the next iteration of
the firefly; upon being reborn, more abilities and strengths build onto the
next generation, creating a more powerful opponent against the darkness.

The world is not as typical as it first appears, and
that is saying something, as it appears far from typical to start!At the beginning, Source takes place in the
damaged world of light, but alongside it is a world of darkness, filled with
immense monsters hell-bent in snuffing out the firefly's light.As shown in the game’s
Kickstarter campaign trailer shown above, these monsters resemble abstract
spiders and flying snakes, but Fenix Fire head Brian McRae told us that there would be
plenty more where that came from.He
said the team wanted to make sure to make the dark monsters balance between
what we would know from this world and what could possibly be seen as
otherworldly without going too far in either direction.While the demo did not feature a dark world
segment to my knowledge, McRae let me know that the world acted more like a
large cube of sorts, unlike the light world, which tended to stray toward the more
traditional orientation of gravity.

If there is something that needs to be said about Source
from its earliest build, it is that the game looks tranquil and beautiful, even
with its otherworldly visuals.Pools of
water reflect the world's topography and luminescence around them, and particles flow one way and
another, following the firefly along its path.Stones are typically cut in rigid angles, and blue and orange lights
are emitted by the foliage and living beings within both worlds, akin to the cool and
heavy electronic styles of older 1970s and 1980s futuristic art as seen in Tron
and earlier video game worlds.

The demo on the showfloor did not exactly demonstrate too
much of what is expected in the final release, which is expected as the demo was
made in a very short period of time.What it did offer was a short glimpse into the world of Source.One should be aware that the firefly does not
necessarily fly, but rather, hovers some feet off the ground, and players can
launch themselves upward by a pseudo jump into the air.This took some getting used to, but it became
more accessible as the demo progressed.The game’s ambiance leads itself to a more relaxed pace of movement,
which did not exactly match the more hustled pace of the showfloor, but I am
certain the game does not stay as quiet as the demo does once darkness begins
to flood the world.I am sure the game will be full of moments both calm and pure as well as
tense and destructive.

Another Fenix Fire title: Smash Derby

Fenix Fire
Entertainment is a husband-wife team who recently celebrated the birth of their
first child.It was the birth of his son
that helped inspire Brian McRae to work with his wife Anna on Source, a world
seen through “infant eyes” as explained on the campaign site.Fenix Fire was founded in 2010, and the
team’s first release was Roboto, a mobile action platformer staring a cute
robot on a high-powered hoverboard.The
team is also working on Gates of Osirus, a space-dwelling alien hunter for PC
and mobile platforms, and Smash Derby, a touch-based futuristic combat game for
mobile platforms and Ouya.Smash Derby,
which Brian showed off to me at the showfloor, involves swiping the screen to
launch yourself at your enemies, changing polarity with a quick touch of the
screen; tower-defense elements are involved as well, allowing players to add in
turrets and other defenses between each wave of attack.Brian told me that Source originated in a
style similar to Smash Derby, but the scale has grown to what it is now, and he
hopes to be able to realize his vision through the game’s Kickstarter campaign.

Developed on the Unity engine, Source is currently slated
for release late Summer 2015 for Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC (Steam is hopeful
at this point). Although the Kickstarter campaign states that the game will
likely see a PC release first, the different versions will have as
close a launch parity as possible.So,
what are you waiting for?Get to the
campaign here and help be the source to make Source possible!